Monday, September 29, 2014

On May 31, Husband and I began the long trek to our new home in Taiwan. We arrived in Taipei on July 12 and moved to our new city, Kaohsiung, on July 31. We moved into our flat on August 6 and our boxes arrived from New York City on September 22. And with that, we're officially expats again.

Siping Street Market, Taipei

FYI: When moving to a tropical climate from a non-tropical climate, one should plan to arrive in the winter months to more easily acclimate to one's new climate. One should not (repeat not) arrive in the hottest months of summer, where the difference in climate is so vast that, rather than acclimating, your body just gives up and sweats uncontrollably because it doesn't know what else to do. Because it's too hot. And your body thinks you're going to die.

It's been almost two months since arriving in Kaohsiung and we're still getting settled. Neither of us speak the language, Mandarin and Taiwanese, but we're having a much easier time here, even while being illiterate and unable to communicate easily, than we ever did in New York City. Things are easy here and, especially upon first arriving, we found ourselves often repeating, "Well, that's different. And better." Because that wasn't the case in New York City. Because they make everything so hard there.

But, now we live in Kaohsiung and we're really happy with this move. Unlike our move to Dundee, there is no doubt that we did the right thing; there is no regret. We're thrilled to be living in Kaohsiung and we can't wait to begin exploring the island and Asia as we did Scotland and Europe.

Though flights aren't as cheap here as they were in Europe, we hope that doesn't deter our ability to explore to Asia. If nothing else, we should still have plenty of opportunities to at least explore Taiwan.

Kaohsiung

We haven't done any exploring yet, however, due to the heat. But, the evenings are becoming bearable, so we have hope that the weather will turn shortly and allow us to more comfortably explore the rest of the island. When that happens, watch out. This island is gorgeous and I'm anxious to begin sharing our adventures again.